Acting on AIDS promotes 'Lives are at Stake,' an educational activity that encourages participants to pull an orphan's photo from the ground and pray for them throughout the day.

Strength in Numbers

Working together, this growing movement of more than 80,000 university students is mobilizing a groundswell of compassion with one courageous purpose: to help turn the tide on the AIDS pandemic. Walking alongside the students are churches across the United States, and the student-initiated Acting on AIDS network.

Why? Because 40 million people are infected with HIV, 25 million have already died, two children die each minute as a result of AIDS, and 15 million children are orphaned by the pandemic’s ruthless reach.

Students like Kaitlyn Kurz of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign know these are more than statistics. Overwhelming as the numbers can be, each digit represents a life, a family, or a community suffering because of AIDS.

“When I think about the injustice in the world, I often feel that there is nothing that can be done,” says Kurz, who heads her university’s Acting on AIDS chapter. “I have to be reminded that there is hope in Christ, and that we can make a difference if we choose to act...Acting on AIDS has been that reminder to me, and has given me the opportunity to act.”

Initiated by Christian college students at Seattle Pacific University in 2004, Acting on AIDS has the goal of building awareness and activism related to the AIDS pandemic. With World Vision’s support, Christian college students nationwide have since formed a network of Acting on AIDS chapters to respond to this critical issue through changing hearts, creating awareness, and advocating for those impacted by the disease. Today, more than 150 campuses — secular as well as Christian — host Acting on AIDS events that raise awareness, compassion, and determination to make a difference.

Churches Join the Effort

Steve Haas, a World Vision vice president, talks with University of Washington students about their opportunities to care for those affected by HIV and AIDS.

Just last month, 2,000 students at the University of Washington in Seattle donned orange t-shirts emblazoned with “orphan” to raise awareness about the AIDS issue. The students gathered on the campus’s Red Square to rally and hear individuals share their personal stories of losing loved ones in developing nations to the pandemic. At the same time, neighboring University Presbyterian Church hosted the World Vision Experience: AIDS — an educational exhibit that takes participants into the lives of Africans infected and affected by HIV and AIDS.

Last December, in recognition of World AIDS Day, several churches also joined campus efforts as they posted photos of children orphaned as a result of AIDS to campus or church grounds. Individuals were encouraged to take one of the photos, read the child’s story, and pray for the child throughout the day. Churches also have participated in the Acting on AIDS Broken Bread Poverty Meal — an experiential event that raises awareness and resources for those broken by the vicious combination of AIDS, poverty, and hunger. Nearly 100 campuses, including more than 14,700 participants, also have participated in the meal.

Today, Acting on AIDS hosts regional gatherings for students to encourage networks among colleges and universities, and provides the support these campus movements need to continue to advocate on behalf of those who suffer because of AIDS. Jyl Hall, who manages Acting on AIDS, says, “The 80,000 students involved in Acting on AIDS seek to know the revealed character of Jesus through His passion for those on the margins of community. As a result of this discipleship process and advocating for others, they are taking the message of hope to thousands of others.”

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